Sweet Peas for Lene

I picked these sweet peas from my garden in Asti for Lene. She is from Norway and recently came home from the hospital and is recovering from surgery. She also has a blog: The Essence of the Good Life.

I love visiting her blog because she has such beautiful images of her beloved Norway, gorgeous interiors and great quotes on her sidebar. This is directly from her header:

"Beauty is central to human existence and enjoyment of beauty is The Essence of the Good Life"

Also:

"When the winds of change blow, some go hiding while others go out to build windmills"

"Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect, it means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections"

Thanks you Lene for those beautiful words. I hope you enjoy your sweet peas!

If only you could smell them! Get well soon!

I'm linking up to Tracey at Notes from a Cottage Industry for Weekly Words to Live By.

Be sure to visit for more inspirational quotes.

April Cornell Tablescape and a Giveaway!

Imagine my surprise when a package was delivered last week from April Cornell. They have been following my blog and especially my tablescapes and asked if I would like to do tablescape with April Cornell linens. Are you kidding? I have been a fan of her linens for years and have many tablecloths, napkins and tea towels in my collection. I immediately said YES!

When I opened the package I thought "Oh boy, this is going to be fun!" They were so kind to send me this floral square breakfast cloth in their "Music" pattern, along with their four "Picnic Plaid" placemats to layer.

I knew right away which plates I would use and where to create my tablescape. I set my vintage round table under the arbor which is perfect for the "Picnic" linens.

These plates work perfectly with the tablecloth. It's almost like they were made for each other!

They are vintage and are made by Royal Doulton in the "Pomeroy" pattern.

I found the little bread plate at an estate sale years ago and then became obsessed with finding the rest of the set! I now have eight place settings including a few serving pieces.

A green crocheted charger pulls it all together, along with red handled cutlery and April Cornell napkins from my own collection.

The centerpiece is a simple ivy ball in a perfectly aged clay pot.

Stemware is a recent find from TJ Maxx which I featured previously for my Still Life Tablescape here. Thanks to my friend Maureen and sister-in-law Mary, I now have 12 of these fun little goblets!

Looking through the arbor in the morning...

Looking through the arbor in late afternoon....

and the view after dark.

Also in my package from April Cornell was this gorgeous tea towel that they suggested as a giveaway! What a great idea!

Isn't it adorable? So, for my first giveaway, here is what to do to win this lovely "Bless This Home" tea towel:

1. Become a follower of Vignette Design, leave a comment and ask to be entered.
2. Or, if you are already a follower, leave a comment letting me know, and to be entered.
3. For an extra entry, mention Vignette Design and my give away on your blog. Be sure to let me know.
4. You may also become a Vignette Design Facebook fan for an extra entry too. Just be sure to let me know! See my Facebook button on my sidebar....

It's that simple! As a bonus, I am also giving away a bottle of our own Arabian Family olive oil with the April Cornell tea towel. You can read about our oil here!

This contest will end at midnight, May 29th (my anniversary!). I will announce the winner after that.

April Cornell is giving Vignette Design readers an exclusive coupon code for an extra 10% off of her merchandise. All you need to do is visit her online store here, and mention "PICNIC" at the checkout portion when purchasing.

She also has a blog! Check it out here.

I'm linking up to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday, as well as Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday. Also on Friday, I'm linking up to Claudia at Dipty Road for Friday Finding Beauty. On Saturday, it's my weekly visit to my friend Laurie's place at Bargain Hunting with Laurie for Favorite Things Saturday because April Cornell linens have always been one of my favorite things ever! Thanks ladies for hosting.

A special thanks to April Cornell for the beautiful tablecloth, placemats and tea towel!

The contest is also linked up to Kim at The Twice Remembered Cottage for the 4th Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway. For more giveaways, please visit!

Under the Tent and Dreaming

Our backyard tent pavilion has brought many hours of enjoyment over the years. We bought it in 2003 and created this outdoor room. In the summer, we sit here at night with candles lit, listening to the fountain and drinking our glass of wine.

One of the advantages of tents is that they can be moved. I have set this tent up in the backyard of a house I staged for a kitchen tour. I even put it on the lawn for an evening dinner party. Wherever it goes, it creates romance and adds an instant sense of place.

Here it is set up for my girlfriend's 50th birthday party.

And here it is today looking tired. I made the mistake of not taking it down and storing it in the garage for two winters in a row. Consequently, there is moss growing on top and the teak wood is turning black.

The inside structure is sagging.

The big question is do I replace it or try to restore it?

I made a phone call to the store where I bought it. It is made my Tropitone and at the time was expensive. I should have taken better care of it because the price has gone up $1000!

Here is my same tent on Tropitone's website. I'm loving those striped side curtains!

I decided to do some homework and see if within the last seven years, there are more options from other manufacturers. This is another tent by Tropitone which is less expensive because it has metal framework instead of teak. All of their tents are made with Sunbrella fabric.

Here is a poolside pavilion from Resort Cabanas, a company specializing in cabanas for hotels and resorts. Not quite the look I'm going for.

Now this is the look I'm going for! I found this image from Traditional Home and fell in love with this outdoor room. I'm wondering if the homeowner takes this tent down in the winter. Isn't it wonderful?

I found this pavilion from Target! It is the most expensive of all their backyard tents, but quite a bit less than the Tropitone tent. The posts are metal and I don't believe the fabric is Sunbrella, but for the price, it's very nice. Although it is too dark for the look I like, I could paint the posts white.....What do you think?

These tents are from Maharaja Tent Company. The top one is called the Lily Pond Cottage Tent and the bottom one, my favorite, is called the Pergola Tent. How romantic are they?

Or this? Somehow, the tent "makes" this backyard, even though it is already magnificent.

So, after all my research, I think I will try to restore my tired, mossy and sagging tent! I love the look of it, and at the price of replacing it, it is worth the effort. Hopefully, I can get one more summer out of it. I'll keep you posted on the outcome....

I'm linking up to A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

Thank you Susan for hosting.

Dreaming of Tuscany

Number 2 Son was recently accepted to study in Florence for the fall semester.

What does this mean for Mr. A and I? We get to visit him!

I can't wait to hang out in Florence with him. Since he is minoring in Italian, I'm afraid he won't want to come back!

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of the Tuscan countryside. Maybe we won't want to come back either!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

These vintage framed Mother's Day poems are a few in my collection found over the years.

They remind us today to stop and honor mothers everywhere. I feel very

fortunate to have my Mother-In-Law and all my children and grandchildren with me today for a family barbeque. Happy Mother's Day to my Mom in Oregon. Wish you were here too!

Wishing all moms and grandmothers everywhere a wonderful day!

I am linking up to Tracey at Notes from a Cottage Industry for Weekly Words to Live By.

I am sure there will be a lot of Mother's Day tributes today so be sure to visit.

A Wine Connoisseur's Dinner

Mr. A hosted a wine dinner last Friday night in our home. He has been collecting wine for years (think baseball cards!) and is part of a"wine club" which meets every couple of months to have tastings and share the wines from their cellars. They call themselves the BNO wine club, short for "Boys Night Out."

When it came his turn to host, he wanted to make the evening special with a full-on sit down dinner. So he hired our daughter Ashley to cater the event.

THE TABLE SETTING:

My contribution was the tablescape. I know I've featured most of the dishes before, but wanted to use these plates again because of the grape motif.

I varied the color of the glasses, chargers, candles and napkin rings: Red, green and purple.

Holding court is this centerpiece of two dozen garden roses in this ice bucket.

I hate to admit it, but I literally threw this all together at the last minute!

I love how this photo shows how the glasses, roses and candles look like gems on the table.

THE FOOD:

Meanwhile, Chef Ashley is in the kitchen preparing the meal.

First, she set up her "Mis en Place."

This thin slice of Wagu beef will be used for an hor d'oeuvre.

Like this quinelle of Wagu beef tartar on a small toasted crostini.

Shots of sunchoke soup with a drizzle of white truffle oil were passed around.

Also, there was a selection of local artisan cheeses to round out the appetizers.

The first course was a little gem lettuce salad with creamy herb dressing garnished with avocado cubes, slivered almonds, radish, and shaved peppercorn pecorino cheese. Aaron acted as her sous chef.

The second course was a Tagliatelle pasta with morel mushrooms, peas and garnished with pea shoots.

Finally, the main course was rack of lamb on a bed of pearled barley with golden raisins, arugula and goat cheese.

Chocolate cake drizzled with blueberry puree and garnished with strawberries complete the meal.

THE WINES:

Everyone brought wine to share. The tasting becomes quite serious as everyone takes notes and rates the wines. I enjoyed listening to the banter back and forth as they discussed the various qualities of the wines.

This is a "flight" of Chateauneuf de Pape, 1988, 1989, 1994 and 1997.

The newest member is also the oldest member. At 81, Ben has been collecting wine since 1959!

He was very generous to bring this 1957 bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.

Everyone was amazed that Ben brought this 1847 (that's right) bottle of sherry!

It's hard to believe that something this old could taste so divine!

The "Boys Night Out" wine group enjoying a gourmet meal and world class wines.

It was a fabulous evening!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

On Friday, I'll be linking up to Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday,

and My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Saturday, I'll be joining Laurie at Bargain Hunting with Laurie for Favorite Things Saturday.

Be sure to visit each of these blogs for more tabletop and food inspiration.

Check out a new meme called Centerpiece Wednesdays at The Style Sisters.